to a second Use which is for abundant Caution Vse 2. For Caution Beware of men saith the Apostle Beware of the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees saith Christ Beware of the leaven of Popish Doctrines I will not now make a Catalogue of the Murthers Adulteries Soâ—omies Witchâ—rafts of Hildebrand Boniface Silvester and other Popes neither wil I at the present rake into the Dunghil of the lewd abhominâ—ble lives of many â—riests and Jesuits c. To â—â—nsack this â—age of unclean birds this den of Theeves to rake into this Augaeum stabulum being so filthy and loathsome as it is will require a large volume I referre you to what 's recorded in the Acts and Monuments there you will find their Murtheâ—s Treasons Persecutions Bonner Gardiner Story and other Popish blood-â—ounds are recorded in that Marian Quinqâ—unrium who hungred after the v. â—ox Act. Monum Maryes reign flesh and thirsted after the blood of Protestants and persecuted them with fire and faggot I referre you likewise to Platina who writes of the lives of the Popes like wise you may see more of the Papists Lives and Tenets in the Romish Bee-hive and in a Book called the Genealogie of Monks and Friers there are many more that Lewis Owen might be named but I forbear quotations of other Authors besides those I have by me have had occasion more or lesse to peruse What shall I say further beware of Popery beware of Idolatry save your selves from this wicked Generation Enter not into the way of these wicked men avoyd them passe not by them turn from them and passe away But it will be said There is no fear of Papists now adaies I would there were not For hee 's a meere stranger in Israel that knows not what broyls disorders Jesuites have made and are still a somenting in this Nation Sir Edward Coke that learned Lawyer profest in his Speech at the Araignment of the Gunpowder Traytors That there was never any Treason committed See Sir Edw. Cokes speech in England but a Popish Priest had a hand therein Do not Jesuites set people together by the ears Doe not the Heresies and damnable opinions of these licentious times gratifie the Jesuites These are meat and drink to them Doe not they love to fish in troubled waters hoping to catch a prize for the Popes coffers Do not Jesuites go up and down like the Devil encompassing the earth acting in Courts Cities Countries Universities Will they not become Church-members as one Ramsey was lately detected at Newcastle that so they might promote the Catholike cause I will repeat to you the words of a dying man upon the Scaffold not an hour before he was to give up his account to God his words are these The Pope saith he had never such an harvest in England since the Reformation W Lawd A. B. of Cant. as â—ow for by reason of the errors and opinions of the times the Kingdome is like an Oak cleft in pieces with wedges made of its own body But of the increase of Papists Ile give you a late and questionlesse a true information in a Speech spoken by a great Personage these are the words even totidâ—m verba We know very well that Emissaries of the Jesuits never came in those swarms as they L Prot. speech Sept. 4. 1654. have done since these things were set on foot and I tell you that divers Gentlemen here can bear witnesse with me how that they have had a Consistory abroad that rules all the affairs of things in England from an Arch-bishop with other dependants upon him and they had in England of which wee are able to produce the particular instruménts in most of the limits of the Cathedrals an Episcopal power with Archdeacons c. and had persons authorized to exercise and distribute those things which pervert and deceive the people These things being so attested wee had need look about us we had need be circumspect and not associate our selves with Papists we had need take heed lest we bite at the devils bait le ts not be so Fool-hardy as to venture into their companies lest as Peter ventured into Caiaphas his hall we return with a wound upon our consciences That you may detest Popery have but a little patience and I will tell you the opinions of some of their Champions One is that the Pope is Christs vicar head of the Church not only in spiritualls but sometimes in temporall things one of the Popes threw his keyes into Tybur and took his sword and said If Peters keyes would not keep him Peters sword should Another opinion is that the Pope hath power of binding and loosing of forgiveing of sinnes 3ly That the â—ope may depose Princes at his pleasure for Heresie and Protestantisme is Heresie in the Popes accompt 4ly That Hereticall Princes and so are Protestants in his accompt may be excommunicated 5ly That Princes that are Protestants excommunicated by the Bellarm. c. 5 Officio Principis Pope may be murther'd by their subjects Simanca Creswell and Mariana hold this opinion And Bellarmine tells us Princeps subditus esse debet suo Episcopâ— non Episcopus Principi 6ly That Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks John Husse that holy Martyr by experience found this to be their doctrine for he notwithstanding a safe conduct promised at Constance was burnt to death 7ly That Equivocation is lawfull and indeed Equivocation is one great pillar to support Poâ—ery their principle is Jura perjura secretum prodere noli If you ask a Jesuite is such a one at his house Though he knowes him to be there he 'll say no and keep a mentall reservation no that is not that he meanes to tell you of Arrius Diaboli Primogenâ—tus who was ancienter then the Jesuites taught v Mason of Equivocation them this art of Equivocation And we may say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he profest that he acknowledged the Orthodox faith and laid his hand upon his bosome and there were written papers hid containing his Arrian Heresies which he accounted for the Orthodox faith I heâ—rily wish that there were not a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the spirits of Jesuties into many of these times who account themselves Protestants and yet are Interpendent hanging between Ignatius Loyala and Machiavell their words are so amphibologicall such Legerdemain is in their actions as a man knowes not where to have them nor what to make of them whether they be for you or against you you know whence that Oracle came Ibis redibis nunquam per bella peribis And what was the event of that Amphiboly without a comma but to put a period to King Edward his life Edvardum occidere nolite timere bonum est Let all vizards be plukt off let men appear in their colours le ts not come too near the Camp of our adversaries let 's not act the Jesuites part nor plâ—y their game for them What
consecrated unto the Lord And if the first fruits be holy the whole lump will be sanctified Pub. Scipio first went into the Senate to pray before he went into the Capitol to consult Christ was at prayer a great while before day Mark 1. 35. David prevented the night watches The Jewes divided the day into three parts the first was for prayer the second for the study of the Law the third for worke I have read that King Alfred the founder of the ancientest Colledge in our University divided the day into three parts eight houres for prayer study and writing 8 houres for eating drinking and sleeping and eight houres in the affaires of the estate My Brethren let 's all make it our business to serve the Lord with all our hearts Le ts in good earnest with all the members of our bodies and faculties of our souls give up our selves to God Let 's offer all we are and have even a whole burnt offering unto the Lord. Let 's give God the best of the best Let 's not sleep away a morning Sermon and be in our beds when we ought to be in the publicke Congregation Cannot we rise early enough for our secular interest and shall we neglect in the mean time the eternal good of our immortal soules The Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost parts of the earth and the wise men came from the East c. And shal any be so lazy as not to step over their thresholds to hear a Sermon Will men loose this Manna for want of gathering it Men ought to labour more to be good then to bee great and to be more careful to discharge their places of preferment then sollicitous to procure them What seeking riding solliciting undermining what scandalizing supplanting perfidious dealings are every where to be found These waies of unbrotherly dealings are very frequently practiced in these evil daies These things my brethren ought not so to be I fear those times and practises are revived now a daies against which the Prophet Micah complains chap. 7. 3. That they hunt every man his brother with a net Thence an exhortation is inferred v. 5. Trust not in a friend put not confidence in a guide But here lies our duty to doe all we can to promote the honour of God to lay out our selves Interests and all to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ We seek our selves every where our own honour ease and Interest How greedy are many to get more riches how sollicitous of increaseing their substance But how careless are men of doing their duties and discharging the great trust reposed in them Wherefore the other part of my Use shall in an especial manner be directed to two sorts of Persons viz. Magistrates and Ministers 1. Let Magistrates doe their best in their capacity to promote 1. To Magistrates the glory of God They have great advantages put into their hands and let them remember that they bear not the sword in vaine A Magistrate in Gods cause should be like Levi who knew neither Father nor Mother nor Brother nor Sister Of all others a Magistrate should be a man of zeale and courage he should bring the wheel upon the wicked Be they honourable or worshipful he should not spare them in their wickedness Swearers Drunkards Whoremongers Sabbath-breakers these should be punished and Blasphemers who are as bad as the worst For their abomination is never the less because they have so many to plead for them It 's an old Moral Law never yet repealed that he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord should be put to death Lev. 24. 16. What abundance of good may Magistrates doe How many prizes have they put into their hands to serve God in their places Let none be afraid to be good Let them have this Motto or Monitor in their serious thoughts Those that honour God he will honour but as for those that despise him they shall be lightly esteemed 2. To Ministers 2. Here 's one word to Ministers and so for the present I shall conclude Must God have the best then let Ministers offer to God their prayers studies best paines Luther used to say that prayer Meditation and Tentation makes a Preacher And Bernard used to say Bene orasse est bene studuisse Let all Ministers pray much let them first study their own hearts and then study their sermons which they preach to their Auditors The Preacher studied acceptable words A Minister must be an Interpreter one of a thousand Gods mouth to distinguish the pretious from the vile He must have the tongue of the learned to speak a word in due season I have often thought of Davids resolution to Araunah that he would not offer to the Lord that which should cost him nothing Questionless transcriptions Extemporary effusions vain fancies forced Allegories Wire-drawne Expositions are unbecomeing a Pulpit There 's a curse upon all those that doe the work of the Lord negligently Let 's all endeavour to approve our selves workemen that neednot to be ashamed Thanks be to God There 's a choice company of young men who usually supply this lecture Their spirits are serious and their language savory and they preach solid Orthodox and soule-saving Doctrines I must admire and can neuer enough bless God for the same The saying is no more common than true that the hope of our Church is in our young men I will make no comparisons I wish from my heart that we were all better that we would preach more solidly and more frequently And sor mine own part I am of opinion that those who preach most frequently haveing a single eye at Gods glory these are the best and most profitable Preachers and doe most good to poore soules Let none of us hide our talents in a Napkin Let 's not hide our Candle under a Bushel But let 's imploy frequently this sword of the spirit and draw it out lest Ducentas octoginta sex Conciones quotannis habuit Calvinus ad Popu'uÌ„ Lectiones vero centum octoginta sex praeter Epistâ—las Disputationes c. Beza in vita Calvinâ— by keeping it in the scabbard it grow rusty for want of using When we read of Chrysostomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I saith he preacht yesterday and to day And of Calvins indefatigable paines as * Beza writes in his life we may be ashamed that we do no more Let not any ordained Minister especially stand idle in the market place and say none hath hired me There are many pulpits empty both here in adjacent Parishes Yoâ— have places enough to visit were you but of the rare spirit of Amaziah the son of Zichri who did willingly offer himself unto the service of the Lord. Brethren I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy And in love to your soules I am your remembrancer of these things Liberavi animam And so for the present I conclude heartily desireing that what hath been spoken may abide by you
shall prevaile 3. A third reason shall be drawn from Jerusalem and that upon R. 3. Drawn from Jerusalem a double ground because Jerusalem needs our prayers and likewise deserves our prayers 1. Jerusalem the type of the Church needs our prayers It is 1. Jerusalem needs our prayers militant on earth It resembleth Noahs Ark on the surface of the waters tost up and down it 's like to that smoaking furnace shewed to Abraham Gen 15. 17. The Church is like the bush that Moses saw burning but not consumed It standeth among the Mirtle Trees in the bottome Zech 1. 11. The Church may take up that selfe same complaint Psal 129. 1 2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel now say many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevailed against me It is necessarily then an incumbent duty upon us all to remember Zion and pray for the prosperity of Jerusalem However Papists lay down Prosperity to be a mark of the true Church yet all the Saints and Martyrs from generation to generation by their sufferings and persecutions have abundantly confuted the groundlesness of their opinion The Church of God meets with various dispensations sutable to that prophecy Zech 6. 6 7. Where were white black grisled and bay horses And for the most part Gods dearest Children drink deepest of the cup of afflictions and have a full cup of the waters of Marah wrung out to them The title of the 22. Psal is Aijeleth Shahar the hind of the morning intimating the continuall hunting and persecuting of the People of God However it shall go well with the righteous it shall go well with them that feare the Lord. God hath founded Zion the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it Christ is ever present with them and though the Dragon cast out flouds against the woman yet she shall escape And though there are Hornes to push the Church yet God sends Carpenters to cut them off In the mean Zech. 1. 21. time how should we unite and pray for Zion that it may be delivered and established in glory This meanes of prayer God expects God blesseth and maketh successefull Gebal Ammon Amaleck and Philistines all the enemies that Hell can raise are confederate against Jerusalem The seed of the Serpent is at continuall enmity even deadly feud with the seed of the woman We read of their consultation Psal 83. 3 4. They have taken crafty counsell against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones They have said come let us cut them off from being a Nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance We read of their associations Isaiah 8. 10. Associate your selves O yee people and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsell together and it shall come to naught speak the word and it shall not stand For God is with us Of what necessity then are assiduous prayers and importunate Applications unto God in the behalfe of Zion 2. The Church of God deserves our prayers What high Epiâ—hites are ascribed unto it It is called the Citie of God Heb. 12. 2. Jerusalem deserves our prayers 22. The house of God 1 Tim. 3. 15. The delight of God Isa 62. 4. The love the dove the spouse the undefiled Cant. 5. 2. A crown of glory and a royall Diadem in the hand of God Isa 62. 3. The body of Christ Eph. 1. 23. And doth it not in all these respects deserve our prayers Should not we honour where God honours I shall adde no more for confirmation I now proceed to Application Vse 1. For Reprehension and shall insist only upon foure uses 1. For Reprehension 2. Exhortation 3. Direction And 4. Consolation 1. For Reproofe This Doctrine in the first place breaths terrour unto all the enemies of the Church of God If God put such an high honour and estimate upon his Church as to ingage his people to pray with all earnestnesse for it what shall we say of such as are so farre from praying for the Church as they oppose it and set themselves in battle aray against it They mourn when it goeth well and rejoyce when it goeth ill with Jerusalem And thus they tread Antipodes to divine Providence Multitudes there are of Samballats and Tobiah's temper who have a spirit of contradiction against the waies of Reformation Many hate the power of Godlinesse and cannot abide circumspect walking but reproach it like the spies that brought an evill report of the promised Land They calumniate revile those who walk most closely with God Now the Churches Enemies will appeare especially in times of Triall when it comes to suffering losses disgrace poverty c. Then all the Enemies to religion will make that wicked choice to chuse sinne rather than affliction as Job speaks Job 36. 21. But a second sort are to be reproved who are negligent careless Indifferents of Gallioes temper they care for none of these things They are secure setled upon their lee's at ease in Zion and are no whit affected with the afflictions of Joseph How many are there that never in good earnest put up a prayer for the Church of God in all their lives They look upon these things as not concerning them They plainly shew themselves to be a body without the spirit to animate it a carcase only painted men not living members of Jesus Christ For in Christs body when one member suffers the other doth Sympathize They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and conferre subsidiary forces for the mutuall succour of each other but where there is no Sympathy and no fellow-feeling of each others afflicted condition This is a signe that the members of that body are rotten dead like withered branches cut off from the Vine 3. A third sort to be reproved are all such who pray but faintly and slightly and do not put forth their utmost strength for Jerusalem Some pray now and then when the humor takes them but they flagge and hold not out they are not wrastlers with God as Jacob they are not such Remembrancers as will give him no rest that will never leave of praying Now it 's an usuallsaying Qâ—iâ—timide rogat docet negare Cold prayer dead prayer and drousy prayer are no better than Gehazi'es touching of the Shunamites child He went on in a carelesse negligent manner and laid his staffe on the Child but it was not awakened whereas when Elisha in good earnest with all his might laid out himselfe and put his mouth vpon the childs mouth and his hands upon the childs hands and his eyes upon the childs eyes then the Child revived so you may read the History 2 King 4. 34. We read 1 Chron. 10. 14. That Saul enquired not of the Lord yet we read 1 Sam. 28. vers 6. That Saul enquired of the Lord. These places may thus be reconciled Though Saul did